Will I get the price in writing?

A number on its own is not a price

Two contractors can look at the same kitchen and hand you two figures, and the figures can differ substantially without either of them being dishonest. They are describing different jobs.

One has priced replacing the waste line the moment the floor comes up and the other has assumed it is fine. One has a dumpster in it and the other has not. One is protecting the hall and running a containment; the other will put a sheet over the doorway. One expects you to buy the fixtures; the other is supplying them. None of that is visible in a number.

So the document is the price, and the number is a summary of it. A written scope is not bureaucracy or distrust — it is the only way you can tell what you are being offered, and the only way either side can tell later whether the job was done.

The document is the price. The number is a summary of it.

What belongs in the document

The scope, in the order the work happens

Described as work rather than as an outcome. "Renovate bathroom" is not a scope; the list of what is removed, what goes back, and what is done to the parts you cannot see is.

What is excluded, by name

The most useful page in the document. Ask for it explicitly if it is not there.

Allowances, and how they settle

An allowance is a placeholder for something not yet chosen, not a price you have been given. Ask which items carry one and how the difference is handled in both directions.

Who supplies what

And what happens when an owner-supplied item arrives late, damaged or the wrong size — including who waits and who pays for the return visit.

Permits, and who files them

Whether the permit fee is in the number, who submits, and in whose name the permit is held.

Protection, clean-down and disposal

What gets covered, what gets cleaned, and where the debris goes. If a bid does not mention debris removal anywhere, ask where it went.

The payment schedule

Tied to stages of work that are genuinely finished, with a meaningful amount held back until the list at the end is cleared.

How a change is raised

In writing, before the work behind it happens, signed by both sides and dated.

What done means

The walkthrough, the written list, and what has to be complete before the final payment falls due.

Fixed price and cost-plus are different animals

Most building work is offered one of two ways, and it is worth knowing which you are being offered because they put the risk of the estimate in different places.

Under a fixed price, the contractor names a number for a defined scope and carries the risk that it takes longer or costs more than expected. You get certainty, within the limits of the scope. The pressure it creates is on the definition of the scope, which is exactly why the exclusions matter so much.

Under cost-plus, you pay the actual cost of labour and materials plus an agreed fee or percentage, and you see the invoices. The risk of the estimate sits with you, and in exchange you see where the money goes, which suits jobs where the scope genuinely cannot be pinned down in advance — restoration work, for instance. If you are offered it, ask what the fee is calculated on, whether there is a cap or a not-to-exceed, and what backup documentation you get with each bill.

The wrong version of either is the one nobody named. Ask which you are being offered, and ask how the other would work, and see whether the answer is clear.

Comparing bids properly

Getting more than one quote is sensible and expected. The only thing worth insisting on is that they are all pricing the same scope: permits, disposal, which trades are included, and what happens when something unexpected turns up.

The practical method is to take the most detailed of the bids and use its line items as a checklist against the others, asking each of them directly about anything missing. Most of the gap between bids is a difference in what was left out, not a difference in what the work costs to do properly.

And when a number is much lower than the rest, the useful question is not whether it is too good to be true but where the difference is. Sometimes it is genuine — a smaller operation, less overhead, a quieter month. Often it is a scope that assumes nothing will be wrong behind the wall, no permit will be pulled, and disposal will somehow happen. A low number that leaves those out is not a lower price, it is a later one.

Before you sign

1. Read the exclusions first

   Before the scope, before the number. It is the fastest way to understand what you are actually buying.

2. Read the payment schedule against the work

   Check that each payment falls due after something you could stand in front of and see. Money should never run ahead of work.

3. Read the change-order clause

   It should say changes are agreed in writing, before the work, with the effect on both price and schedule stated.

4. Read what happens if either side stops

   What is owed, what happens to a deposit, what notice applies. Unpleasant to think about and much worse to discover later.

5. Check the documents behind the document

   The state registration number, looked up yourself; a certificate of insurance sent by the agent with your name on it as certificate holder; and the dates on it.

6. Take it away overnight

   Anyone worth hiring will let you. Signing on a doorstep while a truck waits is how people end up with the agreement they did not read.